66 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 



ing little fellow, there remained no longer a doubt in 

 the minds of most people that the sparrow was an 

 unmitigated nuisance and great fears were entertained 

 that he had multiplied to such an extent as to be a 

 serious menace. Here, then, is a modern instance 

 under our own eyes of a victory in the struggle. If 

 the sparrow has multiplied rapidly, while all the other 

 birds have either only held their own or even have 

 diminished in numbers, it is quite evident he must be 

 better fitted to the conditions than they are. What 

 are his fit points ? Why does he succeed while others 

 fail ? The thoughtful bird-lover will have little trouble 

 in understanding at least some of his victory-winning 

 characteristics. How did he come to be almost the 

 only bird who can live in large numbers in our great 

 cities, without losing his ability to get along in less 

 crowded situations? 



In the first place this interesting bird is a clannish 

 fellow. He has lost the ordinary sparrow habit and 

 has come to like to live in crowded groups. Seclu- 

 sion is not at all to his taste, and if there are only a 

 few sparrows in the neighborhood those few will most 

 certainly be found living near each other. One of the 

 early adaptations of the sparrow to his city surround- 

 ings was the ability to find for himself a considerable 

 proportion of his food in the undigested seed that 

 could be picked up from the droppings of the horses. 



